Groww is an Indian investment platform that allows users to invest in a range of financial products, including mutual funds, stocks, and gold. While I don’t have access to specific case studies or up-to-date market information, I can provide you with a general overview of Groww’s marketing strategy and its key elements. (more…)
Zerodha is a prominent online brokerage company based in India. It was founded in 2010 by Nithin Kamath and has since become the largest retail stockbroker in the country. Zerodha is known for its innovative and disruptive approach to the brokerage industry, particularly through its low-cost trading model and technology-driven platforms. (more…)
boAt is often regarded as India’s fastest growing audio & wearables brand. The company has become really popular in the last few years and gained further recognition when one of its co-founders, Aman Gupta, appeared as a “shark” in Sony TV’s smash hit show “Shark Tank India”. Reports suggest that the sales of boAt headphones have gone further up a notch, courtesy of the investment-raising show that had rocked the TRP charts and social media trends in early 2022.
I this post, we will ‘dive’ into boAt and take a detailed look at the company and its marketing strategies through a thorough case study.
boAt began its journey in the year 2016 when co-founders Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta decided to offer fashionable audio products at a price never seen or heard before. The two co-founders started out with a capital of INR 30 crore. BoAt wanted to create value for the users so they started looking to solve common problems reported by the youth. It was the time when Apple users were suffering because of their charger getting damaged without any apparent reason. So they decided to make Apple charger that could withstand wear and tear for long, and they were quite successful at that.
Later, the company went on to add a number of quality products such as earbuds, headphones, smart watches, wireless speakers, etc to its product range. As of December 2020, boAt was already selling 14,000+ products in India every single day. BoAt’s both audio and wearable range offer top-notch quality whilst keeping the price affordable. Established audio electronics brands like JBL had to drop down their prices in order to stay relevant in the target industry.
The company struggled in the first two years of its operation (2016-2018), mainly because of the lack of funding. However, once the company raised INR 6 crores from Fireside ventures, there was no looking back. According to filings with the Registrar of Companies, boAt’s FY2018 revenues grew by 4 times to INR 108 crore.
Fast forward FY-2019, boAt became the leading ear wear brand with a 27.3% market share. In FY 2020, the fashionable audio brand generated revenue of INR 500 crore. This was a staggering 108% increase from 239 crore in FY 2019.
When boAt started off, it was just available on popular E-commerce stores like Amazon and Flipkart. However, its products are now available in 5,000+ retail stores. boAt has reportedly served more than 20 million customers so far!
The company knows just too well the likes and dislikes of their target audience and the places they visit often- social media, Google, gym, etc. In a nutshell, boAt has targeted the youth of the nation very well as can be seen from the below mentioned marketing strategies:
boAt has never portrayed itself as a consumer electronics company. Rather, it has always taken immense pride in presenting itself as a lifestyle accessories brand. Doing so creates an image in the mind of the user that boAt products can be used at all places whether you are sweating in the gym, or commuting in a bus.
This intent of the company was also visible at the Lakme Fashion Week (2009) in Mumbai, where all the models sported only boAt products.
Over the years, the company has spent a lot of money on online marketing, as they have targeted the youth. BoAt has mainly run its campaigns on Google and social networking websites like Facebook and Instagram. Interestingly, all customers of boAt are referred to as ‘boAtheads’. The company has also appointed youth icons such as Kiara Advani to win the trust of the customers.
Some companies launch a product, gain success and then fizzle out as they fail to expand their catalo. Expanding your product range over the years is a good marketing strategy in itself and boAt has been exceptional at that. The company first made indestructible apple charging cables and chargers. Tasting success, they did not stop at that introduced ear phones, which was followed by wireless speakers and headphones. With this continuous, well-thought expansion, they were able to capture a large share of the market, owing to which its popularity grew by leaps and bounds.
boAt products offer affordability without cutting down on style. This was not a common thing 7 or so years ago, when the market had either premium brands or cheap ones that did not offer an X-factor. The blend of two was rare. BoAt addressed that gap with its products that attracted the youth. The brand ambassadors were also carefully chosen which had a great face value among the millennials, especially from industries such as Bollywood and Sports (Cricket). In terms of quality of the ear wear, the products could be worn without any fear of damaging them even while gymming or performing high-intensity exercise in the outdoors.
boAt has made a huge name for itself in the last 4 years. It’s reputation and popularity was bolstered after the appearance of one of its co-founders, Aman Gupta, on Shark Tank India season 1. On the marketing, pricing and styling front, the company has left no stone unturned in outsmarting the existing competition. The impact has been such that renowned brands like JBL had to cut down on its prices in order to stay relevant in the industry.
The future of the company looks quite promising, courtesy of a dedicated R&D team, millions in funding and the zeal to stay appealing to the youth. Notably, Aman Gupta’s present net worth is INR 10,500 crore.
Swiggy Case Study and Marketing Strategy – A decade or so ago who would have known how online food ordering and delivery services will take the entire nation by storm. One such food ordering and delivery app that has made a name for itself is Swiggy. The company was founded in the year 2014 and despite tough competition from arch-rival Zomato – the former has been successful in capitalizing the market in many regions and becoming the “largest online food ordering and delivery platform.”
In this blog post, we will take a look at the marketing strategies followed by Swiggy through a case study. The success story of this online food ordering app – which has also moved on to groceries now – will continue to inspire many startups and future entrepreneurs for years to come.
Swiggy is the brainchild of 3 individuals named Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy and Rahul Jaimini.
Majety is an alumnus of BITS Pilani and IIM. Before co-founding Swiggy, he worked as a recruitment co-ordinator for IIM. Then he co-founded Bundl Technologies Pvt Ltd along with Nandan Reddy, which served as the foundation for Swiggy.
Co-founder Nandan Reddy completed his M. Sc. from BITS Pilani in the year 2010. Before heading over to Bundl, he had become the founding partner of Zurna, a restaurant in Hyderabad.
Jaimini was the one who designed Swiggy’s software and mobile applications. He is a former IIT Kharagpur student, and before joining Swiggy, he had worked with renowned companies like Philips.
When Sriharsha Majety and Nandan Reddy set out on the path of entrepreneurship in 2013, they launched a logistics solution named Bundl Technologies. Unfortunately, the startup did not turn out to be successful; as a result, Bundl was shut down a year later. After some considerable thought, they returned with a business idea, but this time in the food industry. Thus came an online food ordering and delivery app which was designed by Rahul Jaimini. He took care of everything from software and databases to the user-interface and functionality.
When the app went live in a limited area, the company had to brace up for some competition in the form of Foodpanda and Ola Café. Swiggy started its operations with just 6 delivery boys and 20+ restaurants on board.
The online food ordering and delivery app has come a long way, courtesy of multiple rounds of funding and backing by renowned global investors. Let’s take a look at the funds that Swiggy has raised over the course of time:
In a nutshell, Swiggy has raised more than $3.7 billion in over 15 rounds of funding.
Swiggy generates revenue through a number of ways. Let’s take a look at each of the methods one-be-one:
A restaurant has to pay a commission for every order that it receives through the Swiggy app. Roughly 20%-25% of the total order value is charged as commission from the restaurants.
A nominal delivery fee (including distance fee) is also applied on every order. This, too, fetches decent revenue to the food delivery company. Furthermore, these charges are higher during the times of “high demand” and “challenging weather” conditions.
You must have seen many promoted restaurants while browsing inside the app. These restaurants pay a fee to appear ahead of their competitors. These paid advertisements contribute a lot to Swiggy’s revenue.
Swiggy Instamart is a fast grocery-delivery system. It came into picture in the year 2020, a few months after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic – a great business move at a time when people were hesitant to go out to buy groceries. The company claims to deliver groceries within 15 minutes in 15+ cities where this service is available. Swiggy reportedly makes over a million instamart sales every week.
In March of 2021, Swiggy revamped its Swiggy Super subscription service by breaking it into 3 parts – Binge, Bite and Bit. The benefits vary across the three programs as per the subscription plans. With Swiggy One, however, all the existing Swiggy Super Members will be automatically upgraded to the new program for the remainder of their subscription. Now, patrons can enjoy unlimited free deliveries, better discounts and other benefits. These subscriptions generate a good amount of revenue for the company.
Swiggy makes great use of digital marketing, especially social media marketing, email marketing and paid ads.
A) Social Media Marketing
Swiggy is very active on all social media platforms. Swiggy has come up with many interesting hashtags in the past, for example #EarnYourCheatMeal #NoOrderTooSmall #EatYourVeggies. They also share humorous posts in which they spin-off the current trends into something that promotes the company’s services and vision.
B) Email Marketing
Customers receive emails from Swiggy on a regular basis. The use amazing graphics, catchy slogans and jaw-dropping deals to garner consumer interest. These emails start getting particularly interesting during major events such as IPL, World Cup, Olympics, etc.
C) PPC Advertisement
The online food ordering and delivery company runs Google text ads and display ads to offer amazing cuisines to people searching for food on Google search. Then, Swiggy also actively promotes mouth-watering dishes and restaurants to try through social media advertising on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
Swiggy has acquired many startups so far, here’s a list of a few notable acquisitions made by Swiggy over the years:
1) The first acquisition that Swiggy made came in the year 2017 when it acquired Bengaluru-based Asian food startup, 48East.
2) Later that year, Swiggy acquired Mumbai-based Scootsy Logistics – a startup in the field of food and fashion delivery that was struggling to make a mark. It was, however, closed soon.
3) The company purchased milk delivery startup named SuprDaily in an all cash deal
Swiggy faces direct competition from one very strong rival and that is none other than, of course, Zomato. The latter has a very strong market hold in some cities, for instance, Chandigarh. According to a report in DNA, Swiggy receives a daily order volume of 1.5 million, compared to Zomato’s 1.2 million. After acquiring UberEats, Zomato has expanded its business to 556 cities and towns. So the battle between these two food-delivery giants is getting fierce with each passing day.
The landscape of online food ordering has seen a lot of investment and innovation in the last few years. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has also forced the online delivery business owners and investors to think about other businesses which can be incorporated into the current business model such as groceries. Whether there is a pandemic or not, groceries will never go out of fashion as they serve the basic necessities of human beings. Therefore, Swiggy Instamart has been launched at the right time.
Swiggy appears to be on the right track in the majority of the cities. However, it should be wary of its arch-rival Zomato, which is expanding its food-delivery business more rapidly than ever. Plus, Zomato is also spending a lot on marketing which has contributed a lot to its growth in the last 2 years. Hence, the road ahead is challenging for Swiggy.
We hope that you found this case study on Swiggy insightful and interesting.
Keep following our blog to know more about how digital marketing is shaping the future of all modern-day startups.
If you are a non-vegetarian, odds are high that you are a huge fan of KFC already. We are pretty sure that you visit your nearest KFC restaurant at least once or twice a month?
Don’t you? Oh, come on! Don’t lie!
Although KFC offers a wide variety of non-veg products in India, it is best known for its fried chicken and zinger burgers. In this case study and success story, we will go back in history and see how and where KFC started, the methods that lead to its success and the hurdles faced by the company in its journey thus far. So let’s begin with this finger lickin’ good story right away.
KFC was founded by an entrepreneur named Harland Sanders. Some biographies suggest that Sanders was born in the year 1890 and spent his childhood on a farm in Indiana.
Reports suggest that his father died when Sanders was only 6 years old, leaving the latter with the responsibility of taking care of a younger brother and a sister. Sanders’ mother spent days working for long hours; however, her profession is still debated. According to a report in the The New Yorker, Sanders was a decent enough chef by the age of 10.
His mother remarried when he was 12 years old. However, the kids’ stepfather wasn’t kind enough to them; as a result, Sanders was sent for work on a farm 80 miles away, while his younger brother was sent to live with an aunt.
Sanders soon realized that he was not the right fit for school. So, he dropped out while in seventh grade and a few years later started taking up jobs such as operating a ferry boat, selling insurance, marketing tyres, stoking the steam engines of trains and making lighting systems.
With the money made from all the above-mentioned jobs, Harland Sanders bought a small place at a service station in Corbin, Kentucky in 1930. Here, he started to serve classic southern dishes to travellers.
The place soon became popular for its cuisine and Sanders started to make a decent sum of money through quality food preparations. Soon, he acquired the complete service station and expanded his restaurant.
In the year 1939, he carried out a small experiment with a new kind of pressure cooker – not what we use at our homes these days. He fried his chicken with as many as 11 herbs and spices and found that this new pressure cooker was capable of delivering the ideal taste that he was looking for.
Thanks to this new mode of cooking, his restaurant enjoyed an overwhelming success for the next decade or so. The governor of Kentucky was so impressed with Sanders’ effort and hard work that he decided to confer the title of “Colonel” – the highest title a state can offer – upon the latter in 1950.
Two years later, in 1952, Sanders signed a deal with his friend, Pete Harman, who was willing to sell Sanders’ dish as “Kentucky Fried Chicken” through his own restaurant. Sanders received a 4-cent royalty on every successful sale. The success of this deal prompted him to sign similar contracts with several other restaurants.
By this time, Sanders had two means of making money; first, through his own restaurant; and second through royalties from local restaurants with whom he had shared his recipes. In 1952, however, the construction of a new highway rendered his restaurant with almost no customers. As a result, he sold the location, though at a loss, and started to reconsider his future plans with a $105 monthly social security and small royalties from local restaurants.
After careful consideration, Colonel Harland Sanders decided to follow a complete franchise model, rather than setting up new outlets of his own. So he packed his stuff including a few pressure cookers, flour, spices and herbs and hit the road with his wife accompanying him.
On the journey, he would stop and offer to cook free fried chicken for the restaurant owner/manager. If they liked the taste they could make a deal straightaway. Proceeding with this strategy, Sanders managed to get nearly 600 restaurants to serve Kentucky Fried Chicken – from both the United States and Canada – over the course of a few years.
In October 1963, a young lawyer named John Y. Brown and a venture capitalist, Jack Massey approached Colonel Sanders with an offer for full-fledged franchise rights. Sanders was a little hesitant at first; however, after weeks of persuasion, he agreed to sell the franchise rights for a sum of $2 million (roughly equivalent to $16 million in today’s currency).
According to a report published by BusinessInsider, under the franchise contract, it was agreed that Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) would set up restaurants across the globe and will, under no circumstances, compromise the original recipe.
The Colonel was to have a lifetime salary of $75,000, a place on the board, a major share in the Canadian KFC outlets and the opportunity to serve as the company’s brand ambassador.
The Aftermath
Many business experts believe that Sanders should have asked for a better deal. But, it seems that Sanders was never after money and was just looking for global fame for his quality food preparations. This can be validated by his constant grumbling of the poor quality gravy that the “new” KFC was offering. He spent the latter years of his life appearing in KFC commercials, talk shows and interviews.
Up until his death in 1980, Colonel Sanders maintained an active lifestyle, travelling long distances to promote the brand and taking feedback from patrons. The University of Houston has honoured him by featuring his name in the University’s Hospitality Industry hall of fame.
Colonel Sanders wrote down a few rules before handing over the rights. Over the years some more additions have been made. So all KFC restaurants must follow these rules:
Only a pressure cooker should be used to cook the chicken. No other utensil is allowed.
Once the chicken has been cooked, it should not be removed from the cooker for at least 15 minutes.
All chicken pieces should be 8cm wide and must weight roughly 300g
All chickens shouldn’t be younger than 60 days or older than 70 days.
The chickens must remain marinated overnight before undergoing any sort of process
KFC now has outlets in more than 120 nations and is, in fact, the second-biggest restaurant chain after McDonald’s. Due to the COVID-19 Outbreak many KFC outlets in the US and Canada removed the tagline “Finger lickin’ good” from its
banners, posters and commercials. KFC’s parent company, Yum! Brands, also operates Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in India.
The story of Colonel Sanders is an inspiring one in its own right. It shows us that one can be of any age in order to run a successful business. It also inspires us to value quality more over money. We hope that you find this KFC success story useful and highly motivating.
Back in 2006, Indian foodies were familiar with the concept of a “buffet”. However, a man named Prosenjit Choudhury – the restaurant manager at Indore’s Sayaji Hotels – wanted to bring more innovation to the tables of customers who loved to dine-out every now and then.
One day he was struck with an idea when some customers came complaining about appetizers being cold. He thought to himself, “Why not try a live grill?” Wanting to experiment with such an idea, he went straight to his then boss, Sajid Dhanani, who approved it without any second thought. The hotel enjoyed an overwhelming success with the launch of a “live-grill” counter, prompting Dhanani to come up with Barbeque Nation!
Although Sajid Dhanani hailed from Bangalore, he decided to launch the first outlet of his ambitious project in Pali Hill, a posh locality in Mumbai.
The first outlet was a smashing hit, and by the end of 2008, Barbeque Nation had expanded with as many as 13 restaurants in major cities such as New Delhi and Bengaluru. Interestingly, the food chain hasn’t seen even a single shutdown even after more than 15 years.
Barbeque Nation can’t dedicate its overwhelming success to any particular point. Multiple reasons have come into play to take it to the peak of success. Some of them include:
1) Location
Barbeque Nation doesn’t always look to open an outlet in ‘rich’ locations. You may find an outlet in any ordinary shopping mall and street. Because of this flexibility, the restaurant has been able to maintain a decent rent to revenue ratio. In fact, their rent:revenue ratio is 10% lower than other casual dining places.
2) Price
Barbeque Nation has always made sure that they don’t go too over-board with their pricing. In 2006, the price for the live grill and a full buffet was kept at INR 450/person. Twelve years later, the price is still highly affordable at INR 599/person.
3) Targeting customers in small cities
Barbeque Nation isn’t just limited to metro cities. They have their outlets in far-away places like Jammu and Guwahati as well. In fact, they have been aggressively targeting tier-2 and tier-3 cities since 2016.
Reportedly, by the end of 2016, the company had launched 64 more outlets in cities such as Meerut, Madurai and Tirupur. Thanks to this move, Barbeque Nation’s turnover has seen a sharp growth. Its profits grew from INR 4.3 crore in FY-2013 to INR 10.2 crore in FY-2017.
4) Taking Customer Feedback Seriously
Customers are the people who make or break a business. Keeping this thing in mind, the company takes feedback from 20%-25% of the tables within 24 hours, through an online link.
This feedback, which the company refers to as the “Guest Satisfaction Index”, is visible to all team members, regional managers, the CEO and the managing directors. Once a customer leaves a negative review, the regional manager talks to them in person so that the issue can be resolved at the earliest – even for other customers. If the regional manager is unable to resolve the concern, the CEO gets in touch with the customer.
5) Presenting the local flavour
In an interview, the present CEO of the firm, Kayum Dhanani – who took control over the business after the demise of his elder brother Sajid in 2012 – said that they were initially struggling with their Lucknow outlet as customers didn’t like the taste of their biryani. Soon they realized that the “Mumbai-style” biryani that they were making was not appealing to the people in Lucknow. As a result, the company hired a local chef who understood the local taste very well and delivered exactly what people were seeking.
6) International Expansion
Barbeque Nation is not just limited to India. It has outlets in the Middle East and North Africa as well. The company is generating huge revenue in the former region as most of the countries in the Middle East do not levy any tax. Now the company is all set to enter Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Since 2018, the restaurant chain was looking to go public. In 2021, they finally made it with an INR 453 crore IPO. The price band for the IPO was set at INR 498 – INR 500 per share. It was stated that the proceedings from this issue would be utilized to
fund the restaurant chain’s capital expenditure for expansion, repayment of borrowings and to cover expenses for general corporate purposes.
Barbeque Nation has been operating more than 130 outlets across the nation, and yet not even a single one has been shut down – a testimony to the profitability of the chain.
In an interview with Entrepreneur, the company’s CEO, Kayum Dhanani, said that 95% of their stores are profitable, and the remaining ones that are yet to make any money are the new ones, which may take anywhere from 6-12 months to break even.
The “Great Places to Work” survey conducted by Economic Times in 2019 listed Barbeque Nation at the 13th spot in their list that covers workplaces in all categories. This goes on to show that this place is not only a huge favourite among diners but also a preferred place for work among the urban youth.
The same survey also listed Barbeque Nation among the top 10 employers within the Indian retail industry in 2019.
Many restaurant chains come and go, but it takes a great vision and an indomitable will to reach a position where Barbeque Nation is today. The restaurant chain has grown by leaps and bounds under the leadership of Kayum Dhanani, who is presently serving as the Managing Director (MD) of the company.
There was an immense pressure of expectations and performance when Kayum took charge of the restaurant chain after the demise of his brother Sajid, who founded the firm in 2006. Despite all the professional hardships, Kayum has indeed taken Barbeque Nation to the pinnacle of success.
With more retail outlets coming up across the world, Barbeque Nation’s success story and case study will be studied in-depth by up-and-coming entrepreneurs for years to come.
Paytm Case Study and Marketing Strategy – The concept of mobile phone wallets was mostly unheard of when Paytm – an acronym for Pay Through Mobile – made its debut in 2010. For more than over a decade, the platform has been enjoying a strong presence in the mobile wallet and UPI services category in the country, despite intense competition from rivals Google Pay, PhonePe and Amazon Pay.
The journey of Paytm founder, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, is an inspirational one. Interestingly, many modern-day entrepreneurs idolize him and try to walk in his footsteps. In this post, we will take a detailed look at the journey of Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma & the case study and marketing strategies of Paytm.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma was an extraordinary student – he passed the 12th standard at a mere age of 14. However, because of his poor English speaking and reading skills, he missed out on a lot of opportunities. During his college days, he used to read his books in two languages, first in Hindi and then in English to develop a better understanding and command over the subject and the language.
Whilst in college, Vijay Shekhar Sharma used to spend a lot of time in the computer lab, reading about and imagining himself in the Silicon Valley. By the time he graduated from Delhi College of Engineering, he was an expert self-taught coder. While other students were busy appearing for interviews and GD rounds of companies that thronged the campus, Vijay was ready with his own small-scale start up named XS Communications that made content management systems (CMS). Reportedly, one of his CMS was also used by journalism giant The Indian Express.
In case you are not aware, One97 Communications is the parent company of Paytm. Though it is very successful today, Vijay Shekhar Sharma had a hard time setting it up. Initially, he borrowed a loan of rupees 8 Lakhs at a principal rate of 24%, which was a huge sum considering that we are talking about late 2000s. Such a high interest rate got Vijay into a cycle of debts, forcing him to take other jobs such as fixing LAN connections, delivering guest lectures, etc.
When the founder of Paytm, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, was looking for investors for Paytm, many big names in the financial world were not quite convinced with his idea of a mobile-first consumer service. So he himself invested a sum of roughly $2 million to launch the brand.
The platform which started as a mobile and DTH recharge platform in 2010 is now an ecommerce store, a payment bank, a fantasy gaming platform and an investment & wealth management company.
Paytm has undergone more than 15 funding rounds so far with Alibaba and Softbank as its major investors. Let’s take a look at Paytm’s recent rounds of funding:
Over the past few years, Paytm has resorted to many marketing techniques which have often come under the fire of many critics and regulatory agencies. Yet, they have always left a good impression on the audience. In 2019, for instance the company spent INR 200 crore on above-the-line media (ATL), including TV and digital marketing, while INR 150 crore was utilized for below-the-line (BTL) mediums, such as retail initiatives.
For ATL, the funds were split between Cricket sponsorship, TV, print and Radio, with TV getting the majority of the share. Meanwhile, roughly INR 50 crore was spent on digital marketing mediums such as Google Ads and Social Media ads.
Paytm has always been an active sponsor of cricket tournaments hosted in India, including the IPL and domestic tournaments such as Duleep Trophy, Ranji Trophy, etc. Having served as the official partner of Mumbai Indians, Paytm has been acting as the umpire partner of IPL since 2018.
Acquired fast text messaging platform Plustxt for a little under $2 million.
Acquired Delhi-based tech startup Cube26, which was initially funded by e-commerce giant Flipkart. Cube26 was known for enhancing user experiences across multiple platforms and devices, with customised applications for Android OS. The startup also developed varied applications for OEMs.
Acquired Insurance firm Raheja QBE for a sum of $76 million in an all-cash deal. Notably, Raheja QBE offers insurance services that cover health, home, vehicles and workplace injuries.
According to a report published by BusinessInsider, Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s net worth rose from INR 18,000 crore in 2018 to INR 23,000 crore in 2020. This resulted in a huge surge in his rank in the wealth index, jumping from rank 171 (in 2016) to rank 44 (in 2020).
Time and again Paytm has made rounds in the news either because of stirring up controversies or becoming a victim of one. Let’s take a look at some of the major controversies involving Paytm in either role.
Putting endorsements with PM Narendra Modi’s picture during Demonetization
While the night of November 8, 2016 started a few days and months of panic for most of the individuals, Paytm was among the few who gained a record number of users and widespread reach. However, one thing they did over the top is putting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s picture on its print advertisements. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was the first to criticize the move, asking the PM, “What’s the deal” in a sarcastic tweet.
Uttering derogatory remarks against rivals
In a video, presumably from Paytm’s 2016/17 annual event, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma can be seen uttering derogatory remarks against rival companies. The founder of the mobile platform though appears to be drunk in the video.
Allegations of leaking data of users in Jammu & Kashmir
In a video, an undercover reporter for investigative news firm Cobrapost was seen having a meeting with the senior vice-president of the company, Ajay Shekhar Sharma, who also happens to be the brother of CEO and founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma. The video shows Ajay spurting out how the company leaked the personal data of Paytm users in J&K to the Indian government. The video, however, could not be verified and Paytm denied all such claims.
Google has a strict policy for apps that wish to get listed in the play store. One such policy is unregulated online gambling, which includes sports betting and paid cash contests. Since Paytm First Games, which is Paytm’s fantasy and cash contests gaming platform, could be accessed from Paytm app, Google removed it after reportedly issuing many warnings. The app was back in play store after making revisions in accordance with Google’s compliance policies.
Inaugurated by the then Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, in November 2017, Paytm Payments Bank is a virtual bank account which can be used in the same way you use your physical bank account. With a Paytm Payments Savings Bank account, you can enjoy the following benefits:
Risk free deposits (a maximum of INR 1 Lac of deposits allowed) as the company invests its money only in government bonds.
Notably, Paytm Payments Bank has over 58 million account holders. Through its subsidiary “Paytm Money”, the platform is one of the biggest contributors of Systematic Investment Plans (SIP) to the Indian Mutual Funds Industry. Furthermore, the company has been authorized to offer its services in stock broking, demat and National Pension System (NPS).
Paytm generates its revenue from a number of channels. For most of its services, the platform doesn’t charge its customers, but takes a commission from the service providers. Its sources of revenue include:
The Indian digital wallet and UPI services market has many companies competing for the top spot. Among them are Paytm, Google Pay, PhonePe and Amazon Pay. While all of them are great in their own rights, Paytm holds the highest market share; though, it faces stiff competition from PhonePe, a venture of Flipkart. A Bloomberg report shows that PhonePe witnessed a surge of roughly 290 million transactions in 2019.
Through this post, we have tried to cover each aspect of Paytm in a much detail as possible. We are pretty sure that now you have a fair idea about the journey of its founder, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, its marketing strategies and business model. In an interview with The Hindu Business Line, Vijay Shekhar Sharma said that in the first 10 years of their journey, they were a wallet and a bank; in the forthcoming 10 years they plan to be a large financial services company.
Jeff Bezos Success Story – Jeff Bezos has become a household name now, and why shouldn’t it be when the man blessed with extraordinary business acumen is hard to displace from the #1 spot on the world’s richest men list – a feat which Elon Musk achieved though only briefly.
Be it E-commerce, online video and audio streaming, newspaper printing or space exploration,
there is hardly any niche that Jeff Bezos has missed. In this success story post, we will take a good look at the journey of Jeff Bezos and the hard work and effort he put in to reach the pinnacle of success.
Born to a teenage mother on 12th January 1964 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Jeff Bezos got his last name from his step father Mike Bezos- a Cuban immigrant. His mother Jacklyn Gise was only 17 years old when Bezos was born; his biological father Ted Jorgensen too was just 19 years old then.
UpGrad Marketing Strategy and Case Study – The competition in the Indian Online education world is getting intense as more and more ed-tech startups are emerging. One such startup which has grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years is upGrad. In case you are not aware about this ed-tech firm, upGrad is an online higher education portal providing rigorous industry-oriented programs, curated and delivered in collaboration with world-class faculty and top industry experts.
In this post, we will take a good look at upGrad’s success story through a step-by-step case study that will highlight its founders and its aggressive marketing strategies followed over the course of years.
UpGrad was launched in the year 2015 through a combined effort of three co-founders who are now heading different divisions within the organization. The three co-founders are:
Mayank Kumar
An IIT-Delhi alumnus, Mayank looks at the overall growth, strategic partnerships and team building at upGrad. He has 10+ years of experience in the field of education as an investor and an advisor.
Phalgun Kompalli
Phalgun heads the company’s growth operations and university relations wing. He, too, is a former IIT-Delhi student and a proud part of the Forbes 30-under-30 cohort.
Ronnie Screwvala
You may have heard this name in regard to cinema and Bollywood. Well, Ronnie Screwvala is an entrepreneur as well. At upGrad, he is presently serving as the executive chairman.
UpGrad was launched with a vision to help existing professionals gain more specializations and stay industry-relevant, especially when technologies are getting outdated at an overwhelming pace. Unlike Byju’s or Vedantu, upGrad never targeted school or college students as their potential audience.
Their maiden program was designed to make individuals more familiar with the term ‘entrepreneurship’ and all that is required to become a successful one. Now, upGrad is well-known for creating some of India’s largest online specialization programs – designed by top entrepreneurs – which have transformed the lives of millions of professionals.
Focussing on the 3C’s – Coach, Content and Career
When Ronnie Screwvala was asked about the success of upGrad, he said that the ed-tech startup focuses on a 3C approach – coach, content and career. In terms of “coach” for instance, the platform has listed programs designed by the likes of Chetan Bhagat, Harsha Bhogle and Professor Sandagopan (Director of IIIT Bangalore).
UpGrad boasts 250+ industry experts and more than 50 faculty members from renowned national and global universities, including IIT Madras, Jindal Global Law School, MICA, Jamia Hamdard University, Deakin Business School, Liverpool John Moores University, Duke CE and many more.
In terms of “content”, the platform is currently offering more than 7,000 hours of learning, which they are expecting to increase to 14,000 by the end of fiscal year 2022. As of now, the average session rating at upGrad is 4.55, which the platform is looking to take as close as possible to 5, targeting complete learner satisfaction.
UpGrad has been bestowed with many awards and recognition in its journey so far. Some of them have been listed below:
Like any other ed-tech startup, upGrad too has had its fair share of challenges, a few of which have been mentioned below:
In those days, investors were not willing to put their money on any online learning business that targeted only working professionals and not K-12 students. Owing to this reason, the initial funding came from the 3 co-founders, with Ronnie Screwvala providing the majority of the initial funds.
As of February 2021, however, the company is close to raising $100 million, wherein Temasek is willing to invest $50 million, while International Finance Corporation (IFC) has committed a sum of roughly $45 million.
Pushing professionals to enroll for courses
When upGrad was launched in 2015, the entire online education world revolved
around the K-12 model that catered only to students. Professionals and graduates, especially in India, had to be pushed to try new courses to stay industry relevant. Since the Indian professionals were not so much into online learning, the company had to follow aggressive conventional and digital marketing strategies to bring them on-board.
Pushing employers to consider the credibility of degrees earned online
Yet again, most of the employers in India are still not open to considering the specializations and degrees earned online equivalent to the ones earned through full-time offline courses. As a result, upGrad had to spend considerable amount of money and effort in highlighting the value of its university-affiliated specialization programs.
The courses offered on the platform are ideal for graduates, first-time job seekers, professionals looking to enhance their skill set and knowledge and those looking to switch to other job profiles. It offers specialization programs primarily in the following categories:
The platform also boasts a few programs with guaranteed job opportunities post the successful completion of the course. Also, working professionals can go back to the university – not literally – without quitting their jobs. Once their course is complete, they become the alumni members of the respective partner universities.
Furthermore, upGrad also provides complete solutions to enterprises looking for personalized courses for the upskilling of their employees. In 2019, the edtech platform also entered into a partnership with India’s two leading IT firms namely Infosys and Wipro.
This concept is indeed a unique one among leading edtech platforms in India. Through upGrad basecamp, members can interact and engage with other learners,
industry leaders and academia. “Network, collaborate and have a lot of fun” is what the company says about this one-of-a-kind initiative.
UpGrad has a very strong network of partner organizations and universities, which boasts many renowned names, as mentioned below:
Reportedly, upGrad is bringing specialization programs from more top universities on-board, especially after witnessing a huge spike in the number of users during and post the COVID-19 lockdown. In May 2020, for instance, the edtech platform witnessed a 75% rise in app downloads.
Simply putting, upGrad is primarily a B2C company. The professionals who wish to enrol for a course pay the fee upfront. Only a fraction of the company’s revenue comes from employers who get personalised courses developed according to the needs and size of their team of employees.
In an interview with Business Insider, upGrad India CEO Arjun Mohan said that the company spends most of its marketing budget on TV ads and digital marketing, which includes Google Ads, Social Media ads, promotional guest posts, etc. In 2020, for example, the company set a total marketing budget of INR 175 crore, out of which 100 crore was spent on TV and the rest 75 crore on various digital marketing mediums.
Aggressive promotion during IPL 2020
UpGrad entered into an aggressive marketing deal with Star Network India for the promotion of its platform during the IPL ad breaks of the 2020 edition of the game that was being broadcasted from UAE.
This was upGrad’s first major association with any sports-related event. The commercial caught the eyes of many enthusiasts for its controversial slogans such as “Don’t be a Chaatu”.
The online learning platform for higher education and professionals has made 3 notable acquisitions in its journey so far:
By the end of the year 2025, upGrad plans to cross the milestone of 5 million alumni members, including working professionals who would be enrolling for upskilling and staying industry-relevant. Meanwhile, the company is working hard to launch more specialization programs curated by top global universities, the degrees of which have international recognition.
UpGrad doesn’t face any direct competition from other home-grown K-12 players such as Vedantu and Byju’s and is thus presently enjoying a monopoly in the Indian market.
Unacademy Marketing Strategy and Case Study – The Indian online learning space has seen a rapid growth in the post-COVID times. Such a staggering growth in the number of users though would be hard to imagine, had it not been for the deadly coronavirus outbreak that has brought the entire world on its knees.
Unacademy, an online education hub which is known for its wide variety of courses for competitive exam preparation, too has gained immensely from the situation, so much so that the platform now has more than 30 million registered users and 350,000 paying subscribers. In this case study, we will take a good look at the journey of Unacademy, its marketing strategies and the funding received to reach where it is today.
Unacademy started out as a YouTube channel in the year 2010. Five years later, it was developed into an online portal for educators and new-age learners. This was achieved with the combined effort of 4 co-founders- Gaurav Munjal, Hemesh Singh, Roman Saini and Sachin Gupta.
Unacademy was started as a YouTube Channel by Gaurav Munjal just for the sake of exploring a new hobby. During those days, Munjal, who was pursuing engineering, gave coding lessons in Java through his channel. The channel was a hit and Munjal also became one of the most followed people on question-and-answer website Quora, where he extensively wrote answers to questions on computer science.
In 2015, with the help of the other co-founders mentioned above, Munjal registered Unacademy as a brand under the parent firm Sorting Hat Technologies Pvt. Ltd. The portal offered free classes during the first 3 years of its operation and started a subscription model only in 2019.
Unacademy offers a wide variety of courses developed by more than 18,000 teachers. The course curriculum covers the syllabus of classes 10+2 and other competition exams such as JEE, NEET, UPSC, SSC, Bank PO, CAT, GATE, etc.
The platform offers the courses in the form of both live classes and pre-recorded videos. Every fourth class of the week is dedicated to addressing students’ doubts. Interestingly, Unacademy is now offering classes in pastry-making and chess as well.
Unacademy is now a part of the prestigious Unicorn club, which means that the company has surpassed the valuation of $1 billion. In fact, it was Gaurav Munjal’s dream to achieve this milestone before turning 30. Notably, the company became a unicorn club member just 6 days before his 30th birthday.
Let’s take a look at the various funding rounds that have taken place so far:
As part of its aggressive marketing strategy, Unacademy makes extensive use of digital marketing (Google, Social Media and OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.), TV commercials, Radio, and out-of-home (OOH) advertising methods such as billboards.
While digital marketing and OTT platforms are the top revenue generators in tier-1 cities, TV and OOH methods of promotion bring in more leads in smaller towns. The company doesn’t like to spend much on newspaper ads.
Unacademy follows a freemium business model. In simple terms, Unacademy offers some of its basic services for free and charges a subscription-fee for its high-quality content. The pre-recorded classes are free of cost; while, the live, interactive sessions with top experts are paid.
Unacademy has acquired a number of startups in its journey so far. Here’s a complete list of its acquisitions:
2018
Acquired WifiStudy, a YouTube-based exam preparation channel, for $10 million.
2020
2021
Acquired majority stake in technology firm TapChief in February
The first complete month of nationwide lockdown due to coronavirus turned out to be a huge success for all online learning platforms. Unacademy too was no exception. Here are a few Unacademy stats from the month of April, 2020:
Famous personalities Virat Kohli, Anushka Sharma and Shashi Tharoor participated in live classes. These sessions were watched live by more than 50,000 learners
In May 2020 when Unacademy was riding high on its overnight gains, it also had to bear the consequences of a vicious cyber attack. As many as 11 million user accounts were compromised, the information of which was later allegedly sold on dark web. In an official statement, Unacademy confirmed the breach, while also asserting that no sensitive information was compromised.
Reportedly, the attackers claimed on dark web that they had access to the entire Unacademy database, but they decided to leak only the user data at the moment.
Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar signed a multi-layer deal with Unacademy in February of 2021. The former cricketer will serve as the brand ambassador for the platform and also offer interactive master classes. Notably, Sachin has also picked up a small stake in the company.
The war among major Indian online learning platforms is getting intense with each passing day. Most of this is because of the fact that students are restricted to their homes and can’t step out safely owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
Other similar players such as BYJU’s and Vedantu are moving ahead with an aggressive marketing strategy too. If you look closely, you will see how these brands
invest a lot on their digital marketing campaigns to just get leads, which they are sure to convert into long-term customers – thanks to their highly trained sales executives.
